Business Studies

Welcome to the Business Studies Department

'Go into the world and do well. But more importantly, go into the world and do good' - Minor Myers, Professor of Law, Brooklyn Law School

No matter who you are, you are affected by the activities of business. Businesses provide us with jobs, goods, services, income, homes and leisure. There is very little in our world that is not governed by business activity. It is a factor of our everyday life and whether or not a student intends to forge a career within a large, multi-national corporation, express her own sense of enterprise through self-employment or simply enjoy life as a consumer, Business Studies will provide both knowledge and understanding of how the business world operates and our own role in it.

Students enjoy learning about the dynamics of business activity and tangle with many questions such as these below:

Why did I just buy that?

How do businesses get us to part with our cash?

Why is there so little manufacturing in the UK?

Why do some businesses succeed and others fail?

What social and ethical issues should I consider?

Are businesses truly ethical or is this just more marketing?

How does a rise in interest rates affect businesses and consumers?

What exactly is the economy and how will it effect me?

'If you do things well, do them better. Be daring, be first, be different, be just' - Anita Roddick, founder of The Body Shop

Key Stage 4

COURSE OVERVIEW AND EXAMINATIONS

Students follow the OCR GCSE Business Studies specification which is made up of three mandatory units. Two units are externally assessed (exams) and one unit is internally assessed (controlled assessment) and externally moderated.

Each unit is comprised of separate content:

Unit 1: Marketing and EnterpriseThis unit is assessed by the teacher and externally moderated by the exam board (Controlled Assessment – a report which is carried out in a controlled environment within the school). This counts towards 25% of the total GCSE marks.

Unit 2: Business and PeopleThis unit is externally assessed (unseen examination). This is a 1 hour written exam paper and counts towards 25% of the total GCSE marks.

Unit 3: Production, Finance and the External Business EnvironmentThis unit is externally assessed (examination based on pre-released case study stimulus material). This is a 1 hour 30 min exam paper and counts towards 50% of the total GCSE mark.

Year 10: They will study Unit 2 in Year 10 and complete most of their controlled assessment.

Year 11: They will complete their controlled assessment by October and then begin studying their final unit.

CONTROLLED ASSESSMENT

The controlled assessment is set by the exam board and will be based on the Marketing and Enterprise topic. Students will be undertaking research and applying their knowledge to a marketing scenario. This is worth 25% of the total mark.